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+ servings

Canning Tomato Sauce

Simple, unseasoned, and super versatile, this homemade canned tomato sauce is ideal for busy home cooks. With just tomatoes, bottled lemon juice, and optional salt, it’s perfect for stocking your shelves. Makes 3 pints or 6 half-pints.
Prep Time:25 minutes
Cook Time:1 hour 35 minutes
Total Time:2 hours

Equipment

  • 1 Cutting board
  • 1 Knife
  • 1 large stock pot
  • 1 Food mill
  • 3 pint jars with lids and rings
  • 1 Ladle
  • 1 Jar lifter
  • 1 Canning funnel
  • 1 Clean cloth

Ingredients

  • 7 pounds Roma tomatoes (meaty and low-moisture; ideal for sauce)
  • 3 tablespoons bottled lemon juice (do not substitute fresh)
  • 2 teaspoons canning salt (optional)

Instructions

  • Prep tomatoes. Cut them into quarters and transfer them to a large pot over medium heat.
  • Precook tomatoes. Bring to a boil, stirring often. Simmer for 10 minutes until softened.
  • Run through food mill. Run the softened tomatoes through a food mill to remove skins and seeds.
  • Simmer sauce. Return the juice to the pot. Simmer over medium-low heat until reduced to desired thickness, 60–90 minutes.
  • Prep jars and lids. While the sauce reduces, heat clean jars in simmering water. Prepare lids and rings.
  • Fill jars and add lemon juice. Add 1 tablespoon bottled lemon juice to each pint jar. Ladle hot sauce into jars, leaving ½ inch headspace.
  • Prep jars. Remove bubbles, wipe rims, and place lids and rings fingertip-tight.
  • Process in canner. Process jars in boiling water for 35 minutes. Let rest 5 minutes before removing to cool.
  • Cool. Cool jars undisturbed for 12–24 hours. Check seals, label, and store.

Notes

Yields about 3 pints of sauce.
For smaller portions, use half-pint jars and adjust lemon juice to ½ tablespoon per jar and keep processing time at 35 minutes.
Sauce yield will vary depending on tomato water content and reduction time.

Nutrition

Calories: 19kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 0.2g | Saturated Fat: 0.03g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.03g | Sodium: 160mg | Potassium: 252mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 882IU | Vitamin C: 15mg | Calcium: 11mg | Iron: 0.3mg
Servings: 30 servings
Calories: 19kcal
Author: Katie